Top Five Hardest Places to Coach in College Football

The following are my top five hardest places to coach in college football. Of course there are others, but as you will see, these schools have six things in common.

In no particular order, the teams are Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and Michigan.

1) These teams are detested by every team they play. This means the opponent is bringing their "A" game.

2) Fan expectations are unfair to the coach and the players. The team could be replacing 22 starters, and the fanbase would expect a conference title.

3) The national media usually has these teams ranked high in the preseason. This makes it hard for the coach when the team does not deserve to be there to start with.

4) All of these teams have a tradition of winning.

5) All of these teams have loyal fan support.

6) All of these teams have wonderful facilities.

The fans of these teams have little patience and demand winning. We have already seen Tommy Bowden of Clemson ousted this year. Talk of Phillip Fulmer has been "smoking" all year, and a loss to lowly South Carolina this week could solidify this.

Good old Charlie at Notre Dame is destined for trouble in 2009. Rich should have stayed at West Virginia, as Big Blue fans have already lost patience with him.

Only Nick Saban is OK for right now...BUT lose to Auburn, and he will be 0-2 against the hated rival—and a wonderful season will turn into a nightmare.